by Keith Hunt and Lynn Cox

A shop assistant has told a court how a man accused of murdering an elderly businessman in his bungalow flashed the cash after the alleged killing.

Mark Love is alleged to have brutally beaten Roy Blackman to death at his Biddenden home in March this year.

He was part of a gang of burglars who broke into Mr Blackman’s home and fled with a safe containing between £100,000 and £250,000, Maidstone Crown Court has heard.

It's alleged the raid was carried out by the same gang that launched a violent attack on the home of a champion clay pigeon marksman.

Roy Blackman, who lived in Heardcorn Road, was stripped naked at his home and punched, kicked and stamped on by burglars.

Love, 38, is currently on trial accused of murdering the 73-year-old garage owner and bird breeder, and aggravated burglary at the home of George and Kate Digweed in Ewhurst Lane, Northiam, Rye, east Sussex, a month before.

Prosecutor Simon Taylor also alleged that another man, William Smith - who was later shot dead by police - was also part of the gang involved in both offences.

The court heard that within 20 hours of the killing, Love and Smith went on a shopping expedition at the Ashford Designer Outlet, with some of the stolen cash.

The pair are said to have visited several shops and spent more than £600 in Fred Perry.

Giving evidence behind a closed screen, one shop worker told the court the pair had a wad of notes and were flashing their cash.

She said she saw them picking up clothes and shoes and going trying them on.

She said: "Male one (Love), came out of the fitting room with some of the clothes which were no good, but paid for the ones he wanted.

"They pulled out wads of £20 notes which had elastic bands round them

"He folded the elastic band and was clumsy with it and handed some money over.

"I counted it and handed some back. I have never seen this much money and it was very unusual."

The shop worker also said she felt the pair were showing off about what they could buy and that male two, (Smith), had purchased some leather size 7 shoes while Love was still in the fitting room.

She also told the court the pair bragged about going to the bookies and spending more money.

She added: "Male one thought he looked good in the clothes and bought more items.

"He asked (another shop assistant), to get rid of the clothes he’d come in dressed in.

"He had just changed to the ones he bought and then asked if we had any socks.

"I thought it was strange as I didn't see anything wrong with the socks he was wearing."

She also told the jury of seven men and five women that she thought the pair were so odd, she alerted security at the site as after they had left the store they waited outside it in their van for some time.

The men are also said to have gone into another store, Lyle & Scott, where Love tried on a jumper, paid for it and left behind the Fred Perry jumper he'd just purchased.

The witness told the court the pair looked scruffy and may have been drinking as she could smell alcohol on their breath.

She also said they had mentioned they had been out for three nights in a row and had not been home yet and said Love had the cash for the majority of the time the pair were in the store.

CCTV also showed Smith changing his clothes in the toilets at the centre.

Love and Smith later went to a betting shop in Beaver Lane and gambled £140 on a gaming machine.

Mr Taylor said Love was arrested after he presented himself at Folkestone police station on April 7.

The prosecutor said DNA from both Love, of Frittenden Road, Staplehurst, and Smith, who was 36 and from Golford near Cranbrook, was found at the scene of both crimes.

Asked how his DNA came to be at the bungalow, Smith told police: "No idea and all I can say is no comment."

Earlier in the trial, champion marksman Mr Digweed told of the terror he and his wife suffered when four masked men smashed their way into his home

The 52-year-old clay pigeon shooter had only a towel around him after bathing and was left naked as one of the intruders struck him with one of his own guns and demanded cash and his gold medals.

Mr Digweed’s wife Kate, who was in her night clothes, said it was “like a SWAT team” entering the house as the men were all dressed in black and wearing balaclavas.

Mr Digweed said in a recorded interview played to the jury that he and his wife had just finished watching Countryfile on TV on the evening of Sunday, February 21 in their lounge.

“We were greeted by the most almighty bang you have ever heard in your life,” he said. “I was thinking what on earth had caused the French doors to shatter?

“Then I saw a hand come through the window, at which point four masked men entered shouting at the top of their voices. I looked at my wife, who was absolutely petrified.”

Stocky and 6ft tall Mr Digweed continued: “I was thinking to myself I must get into a position to get in front of my wife to protect her, but it all happened so fast.

“I remember turning almost in slow motion and looking at Kate and turning back. They came through the door. The lead person was the aggressor.”

Despite wearing balaclavas and only showing their eyes and mouth, the couple could see they were all white. Three were of medium build and the fourth, believed to be the getaway driver, was taller and bigger.

Mr Digweed said of the ringleader: “I was thinking if this was a one-on-one scenario I would not be nervous about having a go.”

A beeping noise could be heard when the gang entered and one asked what it was. Mr Digweed bluffed that it was their alarm sounding.

One of the men asked where the alarm was, saying they had to cut the wire.

“They were screaming that they want money,” said Mr Digweed. ‘Where’s the safe?’ I am saying: ‘We don’t have a safe.’

“The lead aggressor is saying: ‘We know you have got 25 to 35 grand here. Where is it?’ They start to get really aggressive.”

One of the men pulled out a Taser and put it to his throat, threatening to use it. Mr Digweed told them he would get them some money.

As the man with the Taser stepped back, Mr Digweed felt a hard blow to his forehead from the barrel of one of his guns he had earlier been cleaning after pigeon shooting.

“I immediately had blood everywhere,” he said. “It horrified my wife. I am bleeding all over the place. The guy came back with the Taser. I said if you take that out of my face I will take you to where the money is.”

"I immediately had blood everywhere. It horrified my wife. I am bleeding all over the place. The guy came back with the Taser. I said if you take that out of my face I will take you to where the money is" - George Digweed

The “getaway driver” took the keys to the couple’s Range Rover only to find it was blocked in by a truck.

Mr Digweed was dragged off the sofa with the Taser at his neck. He was told they needed his trophies.

A duvet was taken from a bedroom and trophies were put into it.

“I had about £12,000 in envelopes hidden in the gun room,” he said. “They were desperate for cash. I was trying to protect my wife and everything we had got.

“We went into the gun room. He said: ‘I want your guns. I must have your guns.’ I said I only had two guns. He said: ‘You have got lots of guns.’

“The big guy came back in and was saying to the aggressor: ‘We are over our time. We have got to get out of here.’ The aggressor was almost completely dismissing him.

“He stuck the Taser back on my neck. Bearing in mind I have got nothing on - I am stark naked. I was hit a couple more times. I am still bleeding profusely all over the house.
“They were screaming they wanted my gold medals. He picked up a bottle of Tequila. I thought he was going to smash it over my head.”

Mr Digweed said the gang had been in the house about 13 minutes when they grabbed four trophies and two guns, one of which was “useless” as it was dismantled, and left in his Toyota Hilux truck.

“I spoke to the police,” he said. “My wife was hysterical at that point. They arrived about 10 minutes later.”

The gang left behind the Taser and a club hammer used to smash the door. Mr Digweed went to hospital and his head wound was stitched and glued.

Kate Digweed said in her interview: “When they came in they looked like a SWAT team. They were in all black. One had piercing blue eyes.”

The ringleader, who was “shouty and aggressive”, bound her hands with duct tape.

“He was the one you would be frightened of,” said Mrs Digweed. “He had a club hammer. To me they were big and scary. I am 6ft. One was definitely taller than me.

“One just shouted all the time. He shouted about money and the safe. He hit George with the barrel of a shotgun. I heard this smack on his head.

“That guy hit him seriously hard. He went very quiet and I thought they had knocked him out. I heard a crack. The blood went everywhere.

“They had taken his towel off. He was completely naked. I was in my nightie.

"The ringleader kept shouting 'Where’s the safe, where’s the gold medals?'"

Mrs Digweed continued: “They took George’s savings. They went all over the floor. They were scrambling on the floor picking up the cash.

“The taller guy said they had got to go. The other two just seemed to be doing what they were told. One man was just ultra-aggressive. The way he acted, I thought he was going to go further.

“There was no need to hit George. He is a big guy. Neither of us fought back. It happened so fast. After they hit George I thought they were going to kill us.”

Prosecutor Simon Taylor said in admissions read to the jury that Smith had Mr Digweed’s stolen Benelli auto rifle and the barrel of his Perazzi high tech gun in his possession when shot dead by police.

Smith, 36, was fatally wounded during attempts to arrest him in Crowbourne Orchard in Goudhurst, on May 1.

Mr Taylor said the stock of the Benelli was left behind at the scene of the burglary.

The trial continues.